The Ghost of Gundams Past
by jai-kun
Summary: This was the first nonlegend I wrote for the Gundam Legends challenge. I wrote it in 2001, and was very proud of it!


_The Ghost of Gundams Past_

By Jai-kun

In After Colony 197, all machines of war and destruction, including the mobile suits that man had used to wage such war, were destroyed due to the actions of a core group of pilots. Five boys, the pilots of special suits made out of a miraculous alloy, were especially credited with the peacetime that lasted for decades.

But while most of the citizens of the Earth and it's colonies desired peace, a faction of men saw the time of peace as an opportunity to control the planet. Slowly and secretly building up a new stock of mobile suits, sleek and agile, the faction known as the Khushrenada Alliance began a plan for global and galactic domination.

The initial attack was brutal. Working in both government and the battlefield, it took the peaceful citizens by such surprise that the Alliance soon had an iron grip on the entire planet and was reaching out to the colonies. Only one colony managed to evade take over by AC 235... Colony L5.

In After Colony 246, a force of mobile suits was discovered at L5. When the Alliance sent a small force to investigate, the force was decimated. It was the rebellion's first and only win. Despite multiple losses, the rebellion, headed by the last of the surviving original Gundam pilots, managed to survive and upset many of the Alliance's plans. The colony leader upheld Khushrenada as an honorable man and despised the men who used his name for war. Despite poor equipment and little training, the colony was a thorn in the alliance's side.

The Colony Leader, Chang Wufei, died in After Colony 259 of heart failure on the night of the rebellion's biggest defeat. His last words, spoken to his four long dead comrades, were, "I tried".

Despite the heaviest of losses, the rebellion continued on.

* * *

The red headed girl jerked the controls of her mobile suit to the left, narrowly avoiding the pulse blast from one of the three alliance craft she faced. Spinning tightly, her suit's light sword sliced into the arm of the firing suit, destroying the gun. In the melee, she'd lost the other two on visual. 

She had to ignore the sweat pouring from her face, concentrating on finding the other two while the third one was still reeling. She'd always believed she was blessed, having a link to the 5 pilots of legend, but now it seemed the blessing was running out.

There! The two pilots swooped in on her radar screens and she yanked her controls, dropping "down" relative to them, letting them smash into each other. The maneuver was too slow, and she felt the impact against her suit's back. A warning light told the tale. She'd be out of oxygen in minutes.

The radar screen told that she likely didn't have minutes left. While she could see past the old cloaking devices, the Alliance had rendered those measures obsolete. They appeared around her, over her... she was trapped. Silently she opened a comlink, broadcasting on all channels in all directions.

"This is the Mobile Suit ThunderStorm to any and all non alliance units. My battle is lost, but yours is not! My clan fights on! The peace that my ancestors fought for is still possible... even if I must die to bring it about!"

It was a desperate tactic, and she could see the guns charging in response. She raised the screens to look out, no longer relying on instruments to tell her what she already knew. She could now see the sleek mobile suits aiming at her...

Suddenly the suits and stars in front of her shifted, shuddering and blackening, and the largest mobile suit she had ever seen. She found her head craning back and back, taking in the sleek black metal, gaping at thelarge wing-like expansions stretching from the back. The mobile suit was still, but blocked her completely from the alliance weapons. It had no visible weapons, yet seemed to glow as if it itself were a source of light.

It's impossible... I'm having delusions from lack of oxygen...

But her comm was still open, still listening to all channels, and she could hear the alliance soldiers talking amongst themselves.

"Where did that come from?!

"-not showing on screens-"

"-friend or what?!"

"Unidentified mobile suit! This is the Khushrenada Alliance! You have entered a militarized zone and are interfering with the destruction of an enemy of the Alliance! Identify yourself and move off or risk immediate and decisive action!"

The radio went dead and remained silent. If the pilot of the gigantic suit answered, it wasn't on any channel her suit could pick up.

A silent beat passed... and another. She held her breath.

"That's it, it's an old model suit, take it down!" Guns and missiles streamed from the wall of mobile suits and raced toward the suit. They passed through harmlessly, as if the suit were an illusion.

"Holy shit!"

Green eyes suddenly lit, and the suit's arm moved. With speed that seemed impossible for it's size, it's arm pulled back and came forward with a gleaming shaft, holding it in front of him. From one end green arcs of energy formed, blazing and bathing all present with an ethereal glow. Before the Alliance suits could react, the blade cut a swath through them, arcing up and back and around. All of them exploded at once.

The explosions battered the ThunderStorm, and the pilot hit her head. She drifted off as the gigantic suit slowly faded from sight.

* * *

The new commander and his aid made their way through the cramped "headquarters" halls on their way to examine the courageous pilot, passing weary and wounded pilots on the way. The young aid shuffled through her papers nervously. "Her name is Heero Trowa Maxwell VI, of the Chang clan... the Chang clan has verified this..." 

The commander nodded tiredly, cursing a war that made even such a renowned family battle for peace, let alone the last child of it. They stopped in front of the red headed pilot's bed, noting her eyes moving rapidly behind tightly shut lids. "What were we able to get from her instruments?"

"That's the puzzling part, sir... according to her instruments, the Alliance suits surrounded her, discharged their weapons and missed, and then exploded..." The aid glanced nervously at the young pilot. "She shouldn't be alive..."

"And has she been able to shed any light on this?"

"... According to the pilots that found her, she was delirious, spouting strange words about a giant suit and demon wings... however, under sonambalistic hypnotism, she was able to give a full description of a suit that appeared from nowhere..." The aid cleared her throat and looked down.

"And..?"

"The suit she described was destroyed in After Colony 187 by its own pilot when the peace began... it was the Deathscythe Hell Gundam."


End file.
